1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable cellular phone having capability of receiving a TV (television) broadcast, and a TV broadcast record setting system and a method for same, and more particularly to the portable cellular phone being capable of receiving and recording the TV broadcast by operating and controlling from a remote site over a radio channel, and the TV broadcast record setting system and the method for same.
The present application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-410152 filed on Dec. 9, 2003, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
A portable cellular phone was originally designed for telephone communication. However, at present, besides the telephone communication, various applications have been proposed and realized. Portable cellular phones that can perform capabilities of operating electronic mail (E-mail), connecting to the Internet, executing Java (registered trademark) applications, reproducing music, using a GPS (Global Positioning System), handling electronic money, serving as a digital camera and digital video recorder, or a like are being manufactured and marketed. The portable cellular phone, which can perform such the above capabilities each having been originally realized in a form of a different device, seems to serve as a multimedia rather than a telephone. Moreover, an attempt to install a capability of receiving a TV broadcast on a portable cellular phone is already started.
Users of the portable cellular phone have long hoped that the portable cellular phone has a capability of receiving the TV broadcast. However, unlike the capability of serving as a digital camera or operating E-mail, for such the portable cellular phone to perform the capability of receiving the TV broadcast, driving of circuits in the portable cellular phone have to be continued while the portable cellular phone is receiving the TV broadcast, for example, for thirty minutes or one hour and, in some cases, for a time as long as several hours. However, the portable cellular phone is generally driven by a battery and, therefore, an amount of power that can be consumed is limited. As a result, to install additional capabilities on the portable cellular phone, reduction of power being consumed by circuits making up the portable cellular phone is of importance. Furthermore, the portable cellular phone is rapidly made small-sized, light-weight and thin and, therefore, miniaturization of components making up the portable cellular phone is also vital to the installation of such the capability of receiving the TV broadcast with the portable cellular phone.
Due to such reasons as above, the installation of the capability of receiving the TV broadcast on the portable cellular phone has been delayed when compared with the installation of the capability of serving as a camera in which long continuous operations of circuits in the portable cellular phone are not required.
However, since a progress in the miniaturization of components and reduction of power being consumed by circuits making up the portable cellular phone are remarkable in recent years, the above problems are now being solved and, therefore, the installation of the capability of receiving the TV broadcast on the portable cellular phone is being realized.
Simultaneous installation of capabilities of receiving the TV broadcast and recording the TV broadcast on the portable cellular phone affords more convenience to users. Users, when having the portable cellular phone with such capabilities, can get pleasure from the TV broadcast and can record the TV broadcast, when necessary, with a touch of its button.
Even when the user cannot use the portable cellular phone due to a reason that the user is in a conference room or concert hall while a desired TV program is being broadcast or to other reasons, the user can preset the portable cellular phone to record the TV program.
However, since the portable cellular phone can take it with the user, there is a case in which a user forgets to bring the portable cellular phone to a place where the user is staying. In that case, the user cannot operate the portable cellular phone with the touch of its button and, as a result, cannot preset the portable cellular phone to record the TV broadcast.
On the other hand, the portable cellular phone has a communication capability. Therefore, even when the user happens not to keep the portable cellular phone at hand, if the user can remotely operate the portable cellular phone from outside using the communication capability, it can afford convenience to the user as well.
At present, various types of technologies to remotely operate not only the portable cellular phone but also a device having a capability of receiving or recording the TV broadcast or their related technologies are proposed. For example, the following technologies are disclosed.
Technology is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-188952 in which a home video recorder is preset to record a program by giving an instruction from a terminal to a server connected to a network (called “first technology”). According to the above technology, even when the user cannot operate the home video recorder since the user is now out, the user can remotely operate the home video recorder from outside via the server connected to the Internet.
Another technology is disclosed in Japanese Application Laid-open No. 2003-204498 in which, by providing an instruction to a home terminal adapter being connected to a network, the home video recorder is preset to record a program via an infrared terminal connected to the home terminal adapter (called “second technology”). In general, the home video recorder can be operated by an infrared terminal in many cases. This is useful as technology which enables existing devices to be remotely controlled by making the infrared terminal be connected to the network.
Still another technology is disclosed in Japanese Application Laid-open No. 2003-63748 in which a computer having capabilities of receiving and recording the TV broadcast being connected to a network is preset to record a program through a telephone line (called “third technology”).
This is useful as technology which enables remote control, even at system shutdown, via a network interface section in the computer.
Still another technology is disclosed in Japanese Application Laid-open No. 2003-37799 in which, when a predetermined time comes, an instruction to turn a power source ON or OFF is provided, over a network, to a portable communication device having a capability of receiving the TV broadcast (called “fourth technology”). This technology is to solve a problem that a viewer having forgotten to turn the power ON misses the TV program in some cases.
As described above, the first to third technologies are to remotely control a fixed device having capabilities of receiving and recording the TV broadcast, which does not relate to a mobile terminal such as the portable cellular phone.
Generally, in the portable cellular phone being the mobile terminal which is driven by the battery, a state of its radio waves varies depending on an environment in which the portable cellular phone is located. On the other hand, a fixed device is driven by stable supply power and a state of its radio waves is stable except in an exceptional environment in which an interference radio wave occurs or a thundercloud/thunderstorm is gathered in a near place. That is, in the technology of remotely controlling the portable cellular phone, considerations have to be given to such the state of radio waves as described above or to a remaining amount of the battery in which an amount of power being able to be consumed is finite, while, in the technology of remote control such the fixed devices as disclosed in the above first and second technologies, no considerations are given to a state of radio waves and power supply.
In addition, some fixed devices are not originally provided with a capability of being connected to a network and, therefore, in order to realize the above first to third technologies, addition of the capability of being connected to the network to these fixed devices is required.
The fourth technology relates to a power supply timer employed in the portable communication device having a capability of receiving the TV broadcast which can prevent a viewer from missing the TV program. The power can be turned ON or OFF from outside over the network. By this technology, an effect of preventing a viewer from missing the TV program scheduled to be watched can be obtained. However, the technology is based on an assumption that the portable communication device is kept at hand and, if the viewer has no portable communication device at hand, the TV program cannot be recorded by remote control from the outside.